On Sunday, October 21, Slate.com (an online magazine of news, politics, technology and culture) published a podcast highlighting Marshall Custer in our Husch Blackwell Cannabis group. Marshall speaks about what it’s like to be a lawyer in the marijuana business. Click here to listen to the podcast.
Husch Blackwell is proud to support @TheNCIA Northern California #CannabisCaucus on Tuesday, October 9 in Santa Rosa, CA. NCIA’s Cannabis Caucus event series has quickly become the gold standard event for professionals serving the cannabis industry! Join the industry’s most influential leaders for an evening of hors d’oeurves, cocktails (cash bar) and the latest organizational and federal policy updates. A registration link can be found here. Please use promo code HUSCH75 for 75% off tickets to this event.
Husch Blackwell Cannabis team attorneys Steve Levine and Meghan Brennan will participate in today’s #DENStartupweek events by speaking on a panel on the topic of the States of Cannabis. Since Colorado legalized the cultivation, manufacturing and sale of cannabis, cannabis has grown from small mom and pop operations to a large scale agribusiness, and regulations have followed suite. Attendees will learn about the spectrum of state, local and international regulations that have developed since initial legalization. Panelists will also discuss the impact such regulations have on the industry and trends they are seeing due to the very different approaches to cannabis regulation. The panel will discuss the differences between the United States and the uncertainty at the federal level and Canada, where cannabis was legalized at the federal level. Megan and Steve will join other panelists Alyssa Samuel and Dylan Sheji. The panel will be held from 10:15am – 11:15am. Location is the offices of Akerman LLP at 1900 Sixteenth Street, Suite 1700.
What does this mean?
Investment continues to be poured into Canadian marijuana companies listed on US stock exchanges (See Tilray listing on NASDAQ). This most recent investment is likely do to the already $700 million return that Constellation has earned from its previous investment into Canopy of $100 million. Obviously the alcohol industry views the marijuana industry as a threat and Constellation is taking big steps to ensure it is diversifying in an effort to create further shareholder value. This investment further emphasizes the missed opportunities for many cannabis companies operating here in the US due to the fact that cannabis is still federally illegal.
Tilray became the first US IPO on Nasdaq on July 19th by a marijuana company. The company priced 9 million shares at $17 apiece and by the end of the day, closing at $22.39, a jump of slightly more than 32 percent on day one. As the date of posting this blog and the second day of trading, the price has hit a high of over $31, another jump of approximately 38 percent.
What does this mean?
Clearly the national securities exchanges (i.e. NYSE and Nasdaq) in the United States are getting increasingly comfortable with the listing of plant-touching businesses operating in Canada. What they are not comfortable with, are plant-touching businesses operating in the United States. As a result, plant-touching businesses operating in the United States – except for Colorado – are only able to list on either a Canadian exchange (i.e. the CSE) or on the over-the-counter-bulletin (i.e. OTCQB or OTCQX).
Tilray’s total revenue in 2017 was only $20.5 million but its resulting valuation on the public market is a multi-billion dollar valuation. Thus this company has taken advantage of the United States robust public markets that NO plant-touching operating business in the United States can even list with because of the fact that marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.
I wonder what the valuation of these Canadian companies would look like if our much stronger United States’ companies were afforded the same opportunities and there was a change in federal law in the United States? There are companies in Colorado that have operated for almost 10 years and have annual revenues in excess of $100 million…I have a feeling there would be a substantial market adjustment for many of these public companies.
Husch Blackwell is a lead sponsor of the Northern California Quarterly Cannabis Caucuses – next of which is to be held on Tuesday, July 10 in San Francisco, CA at the Hilton Financial District. The 3rd Quarter Cannabis Caucus will bring together executive level industry professionals, policymakers, regulators, and movement leaders to network, learn about emerging topics in the industry, and plug into NCIA’s efforts to advance the industry nationally. A registration link can be found here. Please use promo code HUSCH75 for 75% off tickets to this event.
On May 31, Husch Blackwell Cannabis team members Steve Levine and Marshall Custer will present on Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Industries: The Impact on Colorado’s Economy at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. They will provide industry and legal insight related to the burgeoning marijuana and industrial hemp industries in Colorado. The program will also explore how not only operators are capitalizing on opportunities but also how ancillary businesses are also thriving. The program will be held from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Chamber.
The bill, known as the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, would legalize hemp, removing it from the federal list of controlled substances and allowing it to be sold as an agricultural commodity. “By legalizing hemp and empowering states to conduct their own oversight plans, we can give the hemp industry the tools necessary to create jobs and new opportunities for farmers and manufacturers around the country,” McConnell said in a statement last week introducing the bill. The bill has bipartisan support.
This bill also seeks to end the grey area surrounding hemp-derived CBD extracts: “The term ‘hemp’ means the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”
What does this mean?
As I have previously stated, my hope was that this bill would not only deschedule industrial hemp as a controlled substance but provide clarity regarding hemp-derived CBD. This bill has done exactly that and now what remains to be seen is can Sen. McConnell get this over the finish line in its current form?
Husch Blackwell is a lead sponsor of the Northern California Quarterly Cannabis Caucuses – next of which is to be held on Tuesday, April 10 in San Jose, CA. The 2nd quarter caucus will bring together executive level industry professionals, policymakers, regulators, and movement leaders to network, learn about emerging topics in the industry, and plug into NCIA’s efforts to advance the industry nationally. A registration link can be found here. Please use promo code HUSCH75 for 75% off tickets to this event.
On Thursday, March 29, the Cannabis team at Husch Blackwell and Navigant, will host a cannabis seminar on developing quality systems for the cannabis/hemp industry. We will discuss the process, validations and preparation for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification. For more details, please read more here.